GLENDALE, Ariz. -- During spring training, if teams are tied in the ninth inning, the managers will confer and decide whether they want to play an additional, final frame. Last week, the Indians and Padres played to a 10-inning deadlock. On Friday, the teams stopped after nine. It usually depends on if the road team brought an extra pitcher who can use the unexpected work. The teams avoid the five-hour marathons that pop up every so often in the regular season. In 2012, the Indians and Blue Jays played 16 frames on Opening Day in Cleveland. No one can prepare for that kind of start to the season.

Here are five observations from sunny Arizona.

1. Slow and steady: All along, the Indians have plotted to stow Danny Salazar until the team needed a fifth starter on April 8. Indians manager Terry Francona referred to it as "a pretty logical conclusion" that the winner of the competition between Carlos Carrasco and Josh Tomlin will start the fourth game of the year. Francona has already penciled in Justin Masterson, Corey Kluber and Zach McAllister to toe the rubber for the opening three-game set in Oakland.

Since his Tommy John surgery in 2010, Salazar has had his innings monitored. He logged 14 2/3 innings in 2011, 87 2/3 innings in 2012 and 145 innings last season. The team wants the 24-year-old at his peak come August and September, and even starting him nine days into the season aids that cause a bit. Salazar remains behind the rest of the starting pitchers in terms of his workload, and he and Francona said the goal is to have him complete five innings by the time the team breaks camp.

Salazar pitched a spring-high three innings in a minor league game on Friday and tallied six strikeouts.

2. Quick and dirty: History suggests that opposing hitters can figure out Josh Tomlin by the third time they face him. Tomlin works quickly and efficiently, but rarely deep into a game.

In 2011, his only full big league season, he posted a 12-7 record and 4.25 ERA in 26 starts. The first time through a lineup, he held the opposition to a .205 average. That number climbed to .253 the second time through the order and .295 the third. Similarly, Tomlin compiled a 2.54 ERA for innings 1-3, a 4.82 ERA for innings 4-6 and an 11.37 ERA for innings 7-9.

That isn't necessarily why Tomlin served up back-to-back solo home runs in the fifth inning on Friday. It is, though, an indication of how close Tomlin is to returning to form following Tommy John surgery a year and a half ago. In 14 innings this spring, the right-hander has limited the opposition to four runs on 13 hits, with two walks and 14 strikeouts.

"What he gave up was in his last inning of work," Francona said. "He was out to his fifth inning. Fastball was sharp. Breaking ball probably has a little more power to it than maybe in the past, which I think is a testament to his work ethic, coming back from his surgery and actually probably having a better breaking ball. He did really well."

Tomlin is sparring with Carlos Carrasco for the final vacancy in the Indians' starting rotation.

3. Late and great: Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen each tossed a scoreless inning on Friday. The two right-handers figure to own the seventh and eighth innings for the Indians this season. Shaw has logged five scoreless frames this spring; Allen has yielded one run in three innings. Both submitted stellar seasons in 2013, which enabled the Indians to feel comfortable letting set-up man Joe Smith depart via free agency. (The $15.75 million Smith received from the Angels helped, too.)

In his first full big league season -- for which he finished sixth in balloting for American League Rookie of the Year -- Allen posted a 2.43 ERA, 1.251 WHIP, with 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings and a 3.38 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In a career-high 75 innings, Shaw compiled a 3.24 ERA, 1.173 WHIP, with 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings and a 2.61 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

4. Young and restless: It's that juncture in spring training in which starters aren't quite equipped to play full games every day, but top prospects and some fringe players have been re-assigned to the minor league camps to prepare for their season. Thus, when guys like Jason Kipnis, Nick Swisher and Asdrubal Cabrera hit the showers, little-known prospects such as Tyler Holt, Cody Ferrell and Luigi Rodriguez enter the fray.

The inexperienced youngsters have performed admirably to this point. The Indians pounced on the Padres for seven runs in the eighth inning on Wednesday and the Royals for six runs in the eighth on Thursday. On Friday, Ferrell and Ryan Rohlinger delivered singles in the eighth to set up David Cooper's game-tying sacrifice fly.

5. Deep and wide: Every major league team invites aging veterans to spring training, but this Indians team seems as deep as any recent memory. The guys competing for the final few roster spots -- Jeff Francoeur, Elliot Johnson, Nyjer Morgan -- have all contributed to playoff teams within the last few years. One Indians official called the roster one of the deepest he's seen in 20 years with the club.

Francona sidestepped comparisons to the depth of previous teams he has coached, though he expressed how infatuated he is with his spring roster.

"I love our team," Francona said. "I actually don't care to compare our team to others. Whatever talent level we have, I really enjoy this team. I enjoy showing up every morning and seeing how good we can get with the guys we have."

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